41 days till the Cardinals' season opener against the Bills

As we begin another week to wrap up the week of July, the Arizona Cardinals are a day closer to their regular-season opener against the Buffalo Bills on the road on September 8.

That game is 41 days away.

No. 41 on the Cardinals’ roster is currently linebacker Markus Bailey, signed in the offseason. He played the last four seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals. He is battling for a spot on the roster.

The player before him to wear No. 41 was linebacker Myjai Sanders, who was drafted in the third round in 2022 and had a decent rookie year with three sacks but did not play in a game last season for them before he was released.

However, a recent impactful No. 41 was running back Kenyan Drake, who had No. 41 in 2019 and 2020.

In a season and a half, he rushed for 1,598 yards and 18 touchdowns on 4.4 yards per attempt. He had five games of 100-plus rushing yards.

His per-game average for rushing yards of 69.5 is higher than any other player (minimum 20 games) other than the franchise’s all-time rushing leader, Ottis Anderson, who averaged 80.8 yards per game in his time with the Cardinals.

He averaged 80.4 yards per game in eight games in 2019. That is the sixth-highest per-game average in a single season in franchise history. Of the other five high averages, Anderson owns four of them. The other is John David Crow, who averaged 89.3 yards per game in 1960.

The countdown continues tomorrow.

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